Efterklang: Magic Chairs
Echoes in a crowded room If my non-existent Danish and the Internet serve me correctly, “Efterklang” means something like “reverberations” or “remembrances,” and the beautiful duality of that half-translation captures the flavor of this band’s music. With its third album, Efterklang has casually drifted from the more overtly classical structures of its earliest work toward tighter rock songs rendered with the elegance and precision of cut glass.... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsElvis Costello and the Attractions: Live at Hollywood High Reissue
Classic, but unessential Live at Hollywood High originally appeared as a three-song EP accompanying Elvis Costello’s 1979 album Armed Forces. It’s expanded here to include the 20 songs that comprised the full concert, and filled out with a batch of previously unreleased tracks. The resulting album careens from great song to great song, most dereived from Costello’s first two classics My Aim Is True and This Year’s Model.... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsThe Whigs: In the Dark
Athens, Ga., rockers hit their stride The Whigs banged through their first two albums with a rugged energy. It was stuff you wanted to love, but you’d be hard pressed to hum the songs an hour later. On In the Dark the band has paired its roadworthiness with greater ingenuity, and it finally feels like a fuse has been lit. “Kill Me Carolyne” hops around all crazy-eyed, and “I Am For Real” chugs with reflective purpose.... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsJosh Rouse: El Turista
(Yet) Another side of Josh Rouse Expat singer/songwriter Josh Rouse is a musical chameleon, exploding into beautiful new aural shades with each record. His 2003 album, 1972, was a tribute to the AM pop and proto-disco sounds of his birth year. Two years later, he released Nashville, which explored a more contemporary fusion of folk rock and subtle electronic flourishes. But the biggest sonic shift came in 2006 when Rouse moved to Spain and began soaking up that country’s rich culture.... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsOur Time in Rhinecliff: A Winter’s Day in Upstate New York with Natalie Merchant
“It’s 14 degrees!” she says... read more
Found in: Music, FeaturesJoe Pug: Messenger
Prodigious Chicago folksinger makes it look effortless Some things can be learned: how to pick a few chords on the guitar, how to shut your eyes while you sing, how to wince just so during the bridge to convey emotional weight. But unless your surname is Dylan, Waits, Ritter or Prine, you could face-palm yourself to death trying to pen songs half as inspired as the 10 tracks on Joe Pug’s debut full-length. Before moving to Chicago and writing his first songs, the 25-year-old folk phenom studied playwriting at the University of North Carolina; he dropped out, but he never... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsWho Do You Love? Review
Jerry Zaks’ Who Do You Love? is the most recent biopic to fall victim to the form’s ironic limitations... read more
Found in: Movies, ReviewsJónsi: Go
Sigur Rós frontman’s solo debut proves he’s more than just a pretty voice. There’s this thing Jónsi Birgisson does with his voice. You can hear it nearly three-and-a-half minutes into the track “Grow Till Tall” on Go, his first solo record after more than a decade fronting Icelandic ambient-rock outfit Sigur Rós. Jónsi’s fragile, luminescent tenor begins a subtle dance, climbing a few notes up the scale to a moderate plateau and then sliding back down, ascending once more to a comparable altitude, then gliding all the way back down to Earth like a well-built paper airplane. He patiently follows... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsRocky Votolato: True Devotion
Lucky like a three-leaf clover Rocky Votolato’s latest offers 10 reminders of what a man can do with just a guitar and a poem. This album is an artifact from the Seattle songwriter’s season of despair, and its simple instrumentation, understated harmonies and conversational lyrics give the story weight. Stunning strings set the tone in opener “Lucky Clover Coin,” mimicking the longing stirred up by Votolato’s narrative of seclusion, anxiety and lust for freedom.... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsNatalie Merchant: Leave Your Sleep
A self-surpassing milestone Natalie Merchant is just talented enough to escape her own trap. On her new album, she’s taken poems by everyone from Jack Prelutsky to Robert Louis Stevenson and crammed them into 26 tracks of museum-piece jazz, Starbucks bluegrass and PBS reggae. It’s an effortlessly elegant and pleasant ride that even the obvious hip-yuppie trappings of it all can’t obscure.... read more
Found in: Music, Reviews
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